Changes of Hemopoiesis in a Child with Aplastic Anemia Effectively Treated by Syngeneic Bone Marrow Transplantation

Abstract

A 11-year-boy with aplastic anemia effectively treated by syngeneic bone marrow transplantation is reported. Prior to transplantation, donor bone marrow cells were cocultured with patient peripheral blood lymphocytes. Since no significant inhibition of colony forming unit in culture (CFU-C) nor burst forming unit-erythroid (BFU-E) was seen in this coculture study, the transplantation was carried out without pretransplant immunosuppression. Transfusion of 3.1×10⁸ nucleated bone marrow cells/kg from an identical twin donor, representing 4.8×10⁵ CFU-C/kg and 5.1×10⁴ BFU-E/kg, resulted in hematological recovery within two months. This observation suggests that, in this case, aplastic anemia may result from stem cell defects.